Benefits of cycling

How To Ride Dusty Trails On Your MTB | Mountain Bike Skills

– In the heart of summer bike park trails can become
really dusty and blown out. Whilst this is great fun for shredding sometimes it can actually
be really hard to ride. The corners are blown out this much you can’t see, you can’t
see the rocks and stuff. So with that in mind here’s
some of our best points for how to to ride dusty bike park trails. (laughter) – Vision can get super difficult, especially when you’re on
a trail with your buddies and they’re kicking up a
lot of dust in front of you, especially if you’re at the
back or in the mid-pack. It can cause a lot of dust
and hinder your vision so you don’t even know what’s coming up, you don’t even see what the trail is. So that can get a little bit dangerous and cause you to crash
in certain circumstances. So a little tip is just hang
back a bit, it’s not a race. Give it some time for that dust to settle and you can see what’s going on. But if you’re one person that
kinda tends to stick on a tail bit like me sometimes a little bit of a tip is
use your peripheral vision take a look at the guy’s tyre in front and you can see what’s coming. So if his tire’s bouncing about, you know there’s gonna be some rocks. And even if they turn in thick dust you know, right, follow that tyre. – You gotta have the right protective gear especially for your eyes because if you’re amongst the dust
it’s gonna get in your eyes and you’re gonna stop,
you’re gonna start crying ’cause it’s all stuck in your eyes. So having a correct pair of goggles such like these ones where they’ve all got
foam inserts like that keeps the dust out of your eyes and you can be right in mid-pack and your eyes are gonna be fine. – Rock features like this can be really grippy even when wet, but as soon as there’s
a load of dust on it it becomes like a very
fine surface of marbles, so you don’t wanna be braking
too much on the surface. It’s all about speed control just before, and line choice. As you can see here the natural line that a lot of riders have taken brings them quite close to the
mud bank here I’m standing on and because of that they’re
bringin’ a lot of dust down the trail which means it’s
really hard to brake on it. So it’s a bit about creative lines here, Do your braking control
when you’re coming in and bring yourself out
a bit wider with this note no dust or dirt on the rocks so you’ve got a lot more traction
for your braking control. – This is a typical example of dry trails, ‘specially when it comes
to berms such like this one where there’s a lack of water around. They start to crumble up just like this which causes it to get super slippery on such a hard surface just like that. You see these two holes? These are called braking bumps. (high-pitched scream) This is the place where most
all the people tend to brake which causes these holes and
causes a lot of loose stuff which is gonna add a bit
of a problem in the turn and make it a bit more slippery. so what you wanna do is
brake before the turn and come in with some speed, but don’t brake in these holes ’cause it’s gonna push
you into that loose stuff. Also get a little bit more creative. I don’t wanna hit these
two little braking holes so what I’m gonna do is
I’m gonna come in high and catch the last bit of the bump so I mess these two up. – Fast straights like this can become really hard work when
they’re mega-dusty like this. This is only a blue trail. This in on B-Line at Whistler. But our problem is as soon
as you come up to speed you’ll start railing toward
the outside of these turns and you can’t really brake heavily, so it’s more about fine speed
control, watch your braking. You just wanna be feathering those brakes to keep a check on things. When it comes to actual braking you wanna find the
straightest points of trail. You don’t wanna be braking
on any of these turns just on the outside here. As you’re brakin’ you wanna
make sure you dip those heels, you keep all your weight
through your hips. Lean back slightly, and then brake evenly. You don’t wanna jab at those brakes or pull anything too hard. – So there you go. There’s our five top tips on how to master dusty trails out
there on the bike park. But, if you wanna know
more bike park skills, click just down here. – And if you wanna know what to pack to wear at a bike park click down here. And don’t forget to click on
the big logo here to subscribe. – And you won’t miss another video just like this one and you’re subscribed! – Finally, – Give it a thumbs up.

If you're gonna skid / drift on dry, loose dirt trails, y'all better be putting in just as much time volunteering with your local trail maintenance groups. When topsoil becomes like dry, fine talc, what doesn't just blow away in the wind, quickly washes away with the first good rain.

Hey GMBN, What is the best type of bike for uphill climbs? 29er hardtail, 29er short travel suspension, plus, etc, Which will get me to the top the fastest? The trails I ride uphill vary. So what type for what terrain?

Brake bumps are a washboard-looking series of ripples coming into the berm. They form when people brake, yeah, but it's very rhythmic. Coasting over them in a relaxed stance is the best approach – don't tense up, or your hands will get shredded.

Those craters in the berm get called bunkers, and usually form from people roosting (slamming the rear wheel in to kick up dust, Blake) until the surface breaks up. Good tips on riding them, but don't carve them deeper!

The Whistler vids are great, but as someone who's lucky enough to get to live local-ish, I can't help but notice how specific whistler's vocabulary is. Keep it up!

Could you do a more relevant video to us, like: how to get mud off your bike during a ride, how to dig your bike out of a pothole filled with mud, how to ride a bike when the wheels axles' are below the mudline? Thanks 😉